Luzon Sea Star (Echinaster luzonicus)

The Luzon sea star is prone to shed its arms, which then regenerate into new individuals. It is normally six-armed but often quite asymmetrical in appearance, because of it has a habit of shedding arms. Its colouring ranges from red to dark brown. It is found in the tropical and sub-tropical western Indo-Pacific region, ranging from Madagascar and the east coast of Africa to Northern Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines. It is found on both reef crests and in the intertidal zone where it feeds on bacterial and algal films that it extracts from the sediment. By shedding its arms for regeneration the species can reproduce asexually. The shed arm regenerates, growing a new disc and further arms. Up to 65 cm in diameter.

Eight-armed Luidia sea star (Luidia maculata)

The diameter with arms is 12 – 20cm and it has 5 – 9, but normally 8 arms. The arms are long, rounded and tapered to a sharp tip. The tips bear small sharp spines on the sides. The underside is pale and the grooves along the arms bear large tube feet with club-like, pointy tips. The colours and patterns on the top side are variable from greyish blue, to brown and beige, but normally have a darker star-shaped pattern in the middle, and dark irregular bars running along the arms. It ranges from SE Arabian Sea, Persian Gulf, Maldive area, Ceylon, Bay of Bengal, East Indies, north Australia, Philippine, China and south Japan. Occurs inshore at depth from 0-134 m. Observations in Hong Kong include near Kau Sai Chai in Sai Kung and near Port island. It burrows in soft sediments and eats small invertebrates including other starfish.

Astropecten monacanthus

image directly linked from the website: Echinoderms of the Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba)

Cholcolate Chip Starfish (Nidorella armata)

image by Steve Ryan, cc-by-sa 2.0.

Nidorellia armata is also known as the chocolate chip star which leads to confusion with Protoreaster nodosus which is also know as the cholcolate chip starfsih in english. It has a diameter of about 23 cm and lives on rocky surfaces with algae and seagrass at depths of 5 – 70 m. They feed on small invertebrates and algae which they digest externally by turning their stomachs inside out and covering their prey with it. They are found in tropical waters clinging on corals and rocky reefs.

Sand Star (Archaster typicus)

image by Rie Tan cc-by-sa 2.0 .

It is found in shallow waters in the western Indian Ocean and the Indo-Pacific , incouding the Maldive Islands, the Bay of Bengal, Singapore, northern Australia, New Caledonia, the Philippines, China, southern Japan and Hawaii. It usually occurs in areas of the seabed with soft sediments such as sand, silt and seagrass meadows at depths down to 60 m. Larvae settle among mangroves and the young adult individuals gradually move to seagrass and sandy habitats as they age. It eats detritus and anything edible it comes across by everting its stomach through its mouth and on to its food item. The food is then engulfed and brought inside the starfish where the stomach is returned to its normal position.

Crown-of-Thornes (Acanthaster planci)

Crown-of-Thornes starfish

The crown-of-thorns starfish is a large starfish with many arms that preys on hard coral. Its name comes from the venomous thorny spines covering its upper surface – meant to resemble the crown of thorns put on Jesus before his crucifiction. This is one of the largest starfish and has a very wide distribution in the Indian and Pacific Oceans at tropical and subtropical latitudes where coral reefs or hard coral communities occur.

The venom of the starfish contains so-called asterosaponins which have detergent-like properties. The brittle spines can perforate the skin of a predator or unwary diver and tissue containing the venom is lodged into the resulting wound. In humans this immediately causes a sharp, stinging pain lasting several hours, with persistent bleeding aided the venom as well as nausea, tissue swelling lasting for a week or more. Breaking of the spines means they become embedded in the tissue where they require surgically removal.

Peppermint Sea Star (Fromia monilis)

The peppermint sea star can grow to a diameter of about 30 centimetres. Its arm tips and the central disc are bright red, while the other parts are paler, forming large plates. The color, plates and other features can be very variable and identification from photographs can be difficult. It feeds on encrusting spongess, detritus and small invertebrates. Occurs in shallow water in rocky environment, at a depth of 0 – 51 m.